The time has come for me to do what I was born to do. The thing that got me into synths in the first place. Probably one of the best industrial songs ever written. Yes, my synth-brained friends! YES! I am working on a cover of Worlock. You know, the Skinny Puppy one. Yes, THAT best industrial song ever.

So, how can you help? Well, I have been working on the arpeggio that plays throughout basically the whole song. But I can't quite seem to get the notes JUST right. It's just an arp that repeats every 8 bars during the verses. The one that repeats over the chorus is easy, and I have it nailed. But something seems off about the notes I'm picking out of the verses. I *think* it's mostly a combination of E, D, F, and G.

I can't find a decent MIDI file anywhere to compare notes.

If any of you find yourself bored and feel like flexing the muscles of your musical ears, give an opinion.

selfinflikted wrote:So, how can you help? Well, I have been working on the arpeggio that plays throughout basically the whole song. But I can't quite seem to get the notes JUST right. It's just an arp that repeats every 8 bars during the verses. The one that repeats over the chorus is easy, and I have it nailed. But something seems off about the notes I'm picking out of the verses. I *think* it's mostly a combination of E, D, F, and G.

If it's that bass thing, it sounds like the same pattern rhythmically altering octave Es (as in the chorus), with subtle tweaks. One ends on a high F-A-G, one that moves to a D briefly and moves downward after that (not sure what), one with a E-G-F pattern at the end I think, one that briefly goes to A, etc.

For me, it's not the easiest thing to hear since the bassline is moving so fast! Though if you nail some of the patterns, it seems like the same few are used in various orders (computer sequenced, obviously -- back then I believe they were using good ol' Atari STs for this sort of stuff...)

it's extremely subtle, but there's delay or echo on it too that makes it hard to suss out. Either that or it pans back and forth pretty subtly. I'm tempted to think that it's one of those things you can't pin down because they arrived at the conclusion by fooling around with stuff. Compare that to testure and that one seems obviously based in some semblance of theory, but a lot of their other stuff seems to be what works and not what's based on theory.

Thanks for listening people! I worked on it all weekend and though I'm certain I haven't gotten the notes exactly right, I am feeling pretty good about what I do have, and that it'll be passable. Soundwave, you are right I think, and adjusted my arp accordingly.

Metro, there is definitely a lot of panning.

This is my most favorite song ever.

ETA: Apparently YouTube is blocked again because the links to youtube aren't showing up for me again. Plinky, in the MP3, the arp starts at 1:02.

The answer, of course, is whether fun factor is greater then, or less than, pain in the ass factor. Obviously a highly subjective call.

I personally am on the side that this gigging thing is more of a "pain in the ass" than it's worth now. It'd be worth the "pain in the ass" factor for the right pay grade. (A pay grade higher than most concert venues could afford, and a pay grade higher than my actual musical skills merit. )

soundwave106 wrote:The answer, of course, is whether fun factor is greater then, or less than, pain in the ass factor. Obviously a highly subjective call.

I personally am on the side that this gigging thing is more of a "pain in the ass" than it's worth now. It'd be worth the "pain in the ass" factor for the right pay grade. (A pay grade higher than most concert venues could afford, and a pay grade higher than my actual musical skills merit. )

Well, I would tend to agree. But in Mobile, Al (where I am located) - while it does have a pretty decent local music scene for the size of the town - there is no real money to be made by gigging.

Don't get me wrong, when I was in my early twenties, I LOVED gigging out. Exposure, being a total nut on stage, the crowd, the applause, etc etc were all really really nice. But I'm almost 40, and I'm not sure I care about those things any longer.

Have you played a show with the System 8 yet? No? Then yes, you must do this and if you are too old to handle it, you'll find out and you can move on. But the world will be a better place for having a gigging S8 owner out there for a while.